This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to assembling components for an electronic device.
Electronic devices may include printed circuit boards and other internal components. A connector, for example, may include electrical wires for conveying electrical signals to and from a plurality of input-output pins on the connector. These elements may be mounted in a housing. With some devices, it may be desirable to form the housing from mating plastic housing structures.
Mating housing structures can be attached to each other using screws. However, screws may be unsightly. Other techniques may therefore be used that secure plastic housing structures without visible fasteners. For example, techniques for bonding plastic housing structures together such as ultrasonic welding, adhesive, and temperature bonding film may be used to avoid visible fasteners. These techniques may, however, pose manufacturing challenges. Ultrasonic welding can be used to join mating plastic parts, but may produce inconsistent results. Adhesives can be flammable, messy, and brittle. Adhesives such as cyanoacrylate adhesive can be susceptible to cosmetic defects such as blooming. Temperature bonding film (TBF), which is a low melting temperature thermoplastic polymer, may become weakened when an electronic device is operated at elevated temperatures.
To avoid these issues, heat activated thermoset films are sometimes used to bond housing structures of an electronic device assembly together. In a typical arrangement, the entire electronic device assembly is placed in a high temperature environment to activate the heat activated thermoset film. Many materials are not able to endure this type of high temperature environment, which limits the applications in which heat activated thermoset films can be used.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved ways in which to join components for an electronic device such as plastic and/or metal housing structures.